Talking To You
by setthingsinmotion
Summary: OS AU S5: "The graveyard is such a general place; a gray area where being missed is an omnipresent feeling."


**Talking To You**

**Set somewhere in an AU Season 5. (Because it doesn't matter how much I love TVD or adore Julies way of storytelling- A happy Stelena is the sugar I need to allow myself – implied or not ;)**

**Ric in action. Enjoy!**

He loved it how the sun warmed his face even though he couldn't actually feel it he loved to evoke the memory of it. The graveyard and his grave in particular was the only place he was able to haunt. The graveyard is such a general place like a motel room is for a vampire: It can work out but it doesn't have to; a gray area where being missed is an omnipresent feeling. He came here whenever he wanted to escape the party that was going on above where he lived now. Grayson had asked him to join him and Giuseppe for poker but he had declined politely. To join them in whatever they were doing was going against the grain for him; absolutely out of question. He rather loved to watch the people come and go, some he knew and some he tried to get to know by their behavior or by simply creating his own imaginations of their personalities.

Every time Alaric came by his grave candle was always burning and the little old lady who was obviously bad at walking visited her husband´s grave every single day and after that she would take a seat on the old bench diagonally opposite to his grave, waiting for him.

"Hello Ric."

You could easily tell she was his friend; One of only a few who he could interact with.

"Hello Ruby." He greeted with a smile. "How are you doing?

She winced in pain as she rubbed her leg. "As if you didn't know. My legs are going to kill me sooner or later." She joked not knowing what Alaric had known all along: She had a bad trombone that be killing her in less than three months.

That's the bad side of being a ghost - you get to know people without making actual contact with them – but if you do like him and Ruby had, you know that their fate is settled.

"Where were we...Revolution of 1848?" They were cut from the same clouth; not only caused by their job choice but their inner qualities.

Not for the first time Alaric was wondering what Damon would have said if he had introduced Ruby to their guy-like evenings_. He would have been pissed to no end;_ how he missed being able to make Damon feel pissed. The white-haired lady gave him this one and only look. A look he remembered seeing on his elementary school teacher´s face: Warm, love and full of empathy.

"Are you sure you want to talk about West-European Revolutions, today?" This question already implicated a "no" for an answer. "I know why you always come here, Ric for one occasi…"

"To have a talk with you." Ric said in all honesty he could muster. The knowing smile he earned was able to make him blush and even if it wasn't visible physically didn't mean he couldn't feel it.

It was true he hadn't come here with the intention to make friends because seriously why? Ghosts' didn't need friends. But reality had proved him otherwise- Ruby had proved him otherwise. If there does exist one similarity only between the livings and the deaths it´s the necessity of friendship. What a shame he hadn't met Ruby earlier; but would he have recognized their potential as friends at all? Most certainly not.

"And that's why?" he challenged her and made her laugh at his joking manner.

He was one of only a few people who actually cared about her and didn't label her as an old burden being "old and slow on the uptake." Might be, her brain worked slower than ten years ago but it you couldn't throw her on the scrap heap.

"You want to be informed about the town's latest gossip and…"

"And I want to ask about the state of your well-being." Alaric added humorously given that he really cared for her.

He saw her shifting her position on the way too hard wooden bench causing her face once more to grimace in pain. "My grandson has taken over the job. He's quite a good teacher just like you. You two are very much alike.

Alaric took a bow. "I feel honored, my lady. How are Stefan and Elena doing?"

He needed a better plan for cutting his beloved's losses before it was too late. Sadly, he seemed to be fighting one's last stand with nothing but his inner belief and his love. That´s when Ruby came into the game. Whenever his adversaries were trying to trip him up, she was his eyes as well as his ears.

"I can't tell you much though." She continued hesitantly as she recognized how the disappointment tried to break through as to becoming visible on his face but aside from that she saw him fighting against it. "But from what I can tell you, the prophecy hasn't taken place yet."

His face rocked upwards as he tried to read her face, tried to find the snag. "Drew has told me about a little encounter on his first day. Stefan and Elena are so carefree and in love." She chuckled while speaking her next words. "Comparable to an epidemic – a good one of course." With her bright blue eyes hidden behind a huge glasses frame sparkling, her grin was one of a young Cheshire cat.

"It's almost dawn." Rube said suddenly out of nowhere. But Ric was never miffed. _"Old ladies need their routines once in a while, young man."_ She had taught him during their first accidental meeting when she had mistaken him for being the gardener while he swore to high heaven she had to be a ghost.

"Tomorrow?" she asked standing up clumsily as usual only to earn the same reaction as usual.

"I wouldn't miss it. May I help you?" It was ridiculous of him to ask but Ruby appreciated his good manners fully aware of the deeper meaning these words held coming from a ghost who was more of a human than humanly possible.

**Fin**

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><p><strong>AN: God, I love TVD's Season 6 so much – just as much as One-Shots! I've missed Ric deeply so it's pure rainbows and butterflies for me to have him back on the show. Thanks Julie (I think that needed to be said;)) R&R if you like****. It's much appreciated. **


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